The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for automatically forwarding telephone calls, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for automatically forwarding telephone calls under remote control.
Many office workers spend a sizable portion of their day outside their base office or away from their office telephone. For example, workers may be at other locations within their office building, outside their office building at remote sites, or in transit between sites. In all cases, there is often a need to stay "connected" with the office telephone system, having the ability to remotely receive calls that would normally go to the office phone. Call-forwarding is a common telephony service that attempts to address this need.
Today, call-forwarding is typically provided as a telephone system service by the local office/building PBX or by the telephony central office. The most basic operation is that a user can somehow signal this telephony "controller" and cause calls going to their office phone to be redirected to another phone number.
In one typical system, an office worker activates call-forwarding by entering a sequence of button presses on the keypad and/or button set of their office telephone. This button press sequence usually includes call-forwarding on/off codes and a "forward-to" number. Operationally, one normally activates call-forwarding just before leaving one's office and similarly disables call-forwarding upon returning to the office.
Existing systems enable remote control of call-forwarding as well. For example, one remotely controlled call-forwarding system requires a user to dial into a special service number that is associated with the telephony control system for their office phone. Next, the user enters required PIN codes, forwarding on/off codes, forward-to numbers, etc., using the touch-tone pad of the phone from which the user is calling. As a result, the user is able to remotely control the forwarding of the user's telephone calls from another telephone.
Pac-Bell and Bell-Atlantic currently offer a variety of similar call-forwarding services. In one mode of operation, there are systems that provide a "follow-me" service. These systems attempt to keep in touch with a user by calling the user's phone(s) based on a pre-defined availability schedule, or by sequentially calling all phones the user has registered with the service. There is usually a voice mail drop in case the call is not answered at all.
Each of the above systems work well, but they all require the user to enter a complex sequence of codes or button-presses. Many users find this difficult to perform, and consequently do not regularly forward their telephones, which makes the overall goal of call-forwarding impossible to achieve. Call-forwarding is intended to make employees of a company reachable at almost all times. If the employees are not willing to use the system, however, the company has paid for a service it is not using and for which it is not receiving value. In today's competitive environment, most companies will not continue to pay for services that do not add value.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a call-forwarding system that can be remotely controlled in a simple and easily understood manner, thereby increasing the usage of call-forwarding.